Recent Comments

1. 1 minute ago on Aunty Acid

   I think I have to update my status to indicate that I am still alive.

2. about 14 hours ago on Aunty Acid

   I liked the line in the movie Pretty Woman (OMIGOD – a chick flick). Where Richard Gere says, "My ex wife lives in my ex house with my ex dog.)

   I once had an ex-brother-in-law, but he passed away.

3. about 14 hours ago on Herman

   That has been my observation. Somewhere along the line they gave up peace and love for power and money.

   I kind of went in the opposite direction. I met too many people, been to too many places and had to much experience to believe that I am more worthy or entitled than other people. I am not selfish and believe that to other people their lives mean as much to them as mine does to me. I guess that makes me woke.

   I’ve been illiterate (I do not read Kanji or Hangul so I am at a disadvantage in Japan and Korea). I’ve been the foreigner (I “went native” when I had my ground assignment in Korea), I’ve been in jail (Air Force Survival Training). I know that it is to be the stranger or outsider.

   I personally know drug addicts, homeless, gay, transgender, Muslims from the Middle-East and Africa, montainyards, immigrants (status: I don’t ask, don’t tell and don’t care) and people other than White, Christian, heterosexual, English-Speaking males. They are all human beings.

   I once wrote a story from a woman’s point of view (an exercise in creative writing to see if I could pull it off.) The propositions I got from some men were not proper. So I got a glimpse of some of the things women go through. (These guys were thoroughly pathetic.) It was enough to put me off on that sex change operation.

4. about 24 hours ago on B.C.

   I have a theory about the Vietnam war. I admit that this is 100% 20/20 HINDSIGHT but maybe contains a lesson for the furfure.

   I believe that if we approached the Vietnamese in about 1960 and said, “Hey Ho! How would you like to be the Coca Cola distributer to Southeast Asia? We can even open up a plant to build starter motors for Ford;” we could have seduced him to the dark side of the force: capitalism.

   This would have been politically difficult at the time since we were an ally of France whom the Vietnamese just defeated and Communism was the boogie man under every American’s bed.

   I am sure that most Americans at the time would have complained about our spending money abroad. However, they would not have known the cost of the war, both in terms of money and human lives and misery on all sides.

   I have a postscript; I have a pair of Saigon Elephants (now extinct). They are ceramic figures about 18" tall and done up as war elephants. They have a flat top that can be used a a planter or if you put a board across them, a small table.

   We did the latter. It now holds a computer printer: made in the Republic of Vietnam. We got there eventually.

5. 1 day ago on Loose Parts

   Bombs were once spherical in shape so they could be launched like regular cannon balls (“the bombs busting in air”). Smaller ones could be grasped like a baseball and throw.

   The latter were called pomegranates because the resembled the fruit. This was later shortened to grenade.

6. 1 day ago on Herman

   I wonder what happened to all the hippies with their “love and peace.”

7. 1 day ago on FoxTrot Classics

   This is why I always followed my checklist when I was a pilot. Things have to be done in the correct sequence.

   Barbarian leader addressing his troops: remember guys, this time pillage and plunder before burning.

8. 1 day ago on Aunty Acid

   There is a Norman Rockwell illustration. It shows a sailor at a tattoo parlor. On the side of his arm his a tattoo with numerous women’s names on them, all crossed out. The tattooist is adding a new name.

9. 1 day ago on B.C.

   Every war is two conflicts: there is the military conflict and the political conflict.

   Militarily, the United States has done exceptionally well. No enemy can stand up to us on the battlefield. Politically, the results are a lot more mixed.

   We did have some political victories.

   Sun Tzu, in his book, The Art of War advises: “To win 100 victories in 100 battles is not the epitome of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the epitome of skill.” Subduing enemies without fighting can only be accomplished through a position of military strength.

   Stalin blockaded Berlin, we and our allies responded with a massive airlift. Stalin backed down.

   Khrushchev put missiles in Cuba. We responded with a military blockade and the Soviet Union backed down. History later revealed that we made a back room deal with the Soviets to remove our missiles from Turkey, but I still count that as a victory without fighting.

   It could also be argued that the entire Cold War was won by not fighting. We did not need more bombs and rockets than the Soviets, we just had to make them believe that we did and they would go broke trying to keep up which is pretty much the way it went down.

   The nice thing about the old Soviet Union was we could always depend on them being paranoid.

   On the other hand, Afghanistan and Vietnam were not political victories. As soon as the military force was removed the countries collapsed.

   I am of the opinion that politicians start wars and expect soldiers to finish them.

10. 1 day ago on Aunty Acid

    My wife and I have a well-ventilated marriage. We have many common interests and we enjoy each other’s company, but we also have our own separate interests and lives.